Parables of the Kingdom - Pt 5
Parables of the Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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It is surprising how often Jesus turned enthusiastic inquirers away!
As they were traveling on the road someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
Then he said to another, “Follow me.” “Lord,” he said, “first let me go bury my father.”
But he told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.”
Another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me go and say good-bye to those at my house.”
But Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Therefore, when many of his disciples heard this, they said, “This teaching is hard. Who can accept it?”
Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, asked them, “Does this offend you?
Then what if you were to observe the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
But there are some among you who don’t believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning those who did not believe and the one who would betray him.)
He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father.”
From that moment many of his disciples turned back and no longer accompanied him.
So Jesus said to the Twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?”
Why? – Because the Gospel Jesus preached DEMANDS ALL!
Calling the crowd along with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel will save it.
For what does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and yet lose his life?
What can anyone give in exchange for his life?
Saving faith is nothing less than a complete exchange of all that we are for all that Jesus is!
The next two Kingdom parables illustrate this truth precisely:
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls.
When he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it.
BOTH parables make the point that a sinner who understands the priceless riches of the kingdom will gladly yield everything they own to obtain it!
The corresponding truth is also clear: those who cling to their earthly treasures forfeit the far greater wealth of the kingdom!
The Kingdom of Heaven is a TREASURE far more valuable than the SUM of all our possessions!
Looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “You lack one thing: Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
But he was dismayed by this demand, and he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.
“For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?
Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the onlookers will begin to ridicule him,
saying, ‘This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
“Or what king, going to war against another king, will not first sit down and decide if he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand?
If not, while the other is still far off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.
I. The Parable of the HIDDEND TREASURE! – (13:44)
I. The Parable of the HIDDEND TREASURE! – (13:44)
A. WHAT: A Common Practice!
A. WHAT: A Common Practice!
The practice of burying one’s treasure was common in their day! They did not have the benefit of an Arvest, or an Arkansas State Bank.
Josephus, “…the gold and the silver and the rest of the most precious furniture which the Jews had, and which the owners treasured up underground against the uncertain fortunes of war.”
B. A Fortunate Discovery! – (v.44b) – “…a treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied.”
B. A Fortunate Discovery! – (v.44b) – “…a treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied.”
C. A Proper Response! – (v.44c)
C. A Proper Response! – (v.44c)
Were this man’s actions ethical? Didn’t the treasure legally belong to the owner of the field?
NO! Rabbinical law said that if a man found scattered fruit or money, it was his!
Had the treasure belonged to the owner, he would have dug it up before he sold the field!
In fact, this man’s actions demonstrate how fair and honest he was!
He could have just walked away with the treasure or taken enough to buy the field!
(v.44d) – He sold everything he had to buy the field ethically!
II. The Parable of the PRICELESS PEARL – (13:45-46)
II. The Parable of the PRICELESS PEARL – (13:45-46)
A. The WHAT? – (v.45) – “…a merchant in search of fine pearls.”
A. The WHAT? – (v.45) – “…a merchant in search of fine pearls.”
“Pearls” were the costliest of gems, and they were purchased as investments! The implication of the story is that this man would be an expert in “fine pearls!”
They were relatively easy to store, and often they were displayed in dress or hair.
B. His DISCOVERY – (v.46a) – “When he found one priceless pearl…”
B. His DISCOVERY – (v.46a) – “When he found one priceless pearl…”
Without restating the obvious, according to Jesus, the Kingdom of Heaven is “priceless!”
C. His RESPONSE – (v.46b) – “…he went and sold everything he had and bought it.”
C. His RESPONSE – (v.46b) – “…he went and sold everything he had and bought it.”
In this parable, the pearl is available to all. That the merchant “bought it” (v.46) implies it was available in the market, but others were not willing to pay the price.
Like the previous parable, there is an immediate response from the person who found the treasure!
CONCLUSION: NOW WHAT?
CONCLUSION: NOW WHAT?
What are we supposed to learn about the Kingdom from these parables?
The Kingdom of Heaven is ONLY for those who perceive the immeasurable value and sacrifice everything else to acquire it!
THAT is the basic message of these two parables!
The Kingdom of God must be the most important treasure of your life!
Nowhere is this fact more beautifully symbolized than in our BAPTISM –
Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection.
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin,
since a person who has died is freed from sin.
Your old self was crucified with Christ—you died!
Salvation is unconditional surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ! –
Truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces much fruit.
The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
SENDING PRAYER:
SENDING PRAYER:
But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.
More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith.
